1. Technical Field
The present invention relates in general to a method and system for assisting the operator during system restoration. More particularly, the present invention relates to a system and method for automating restoration processes performed during bare-metal restore operations.
2. Description of the Related Art
Computer systems in general and International Business Machines (IBM) compatible personal computer systems in particular have attained widespread use for providing computer power to many segments of today""s modern society. Systems with microprocessors are finding themselves in an array of smaller and more specialized objects that previously were largely untouched by computer technology. Computer systems typically include a system processor and associated volatile and non-volatile memory, a display area, input means, and often interfaces, such as a network interface or modem, to other computing devices.
These computing devices are information handling systems which are designed primarily to give independent computing power to a single user, or a group of users in the case of networked computing devices. Personal computing devices are often inexpensively priced for purchase by individuals or businesses. Nonvolatile storage devices such as hard disks, CD-ROM drives and magneto-optical drives are considered to be peripheral devices. Computing devices are often linked to one another using a network, such as a local area network (LAN), wide area network (WAN), or other type of network, such as the Internet.
One of the distinguishing characteristics of these systems is the use of a system board to electrically connect these components together. At the heart of the system board is one or more processors. System manufacturers continually strive for faster, more powerful processors in order to supply systems for demanding applications.
These computer systems are more and more complex and store increasing amounts of data. Backup and recovery procedures are very important. Rapid recovery from catastrophic failure is an important part of an individual""s and an organization""s disaster recovery procedure. As business operations move into a 24 by 7 operational mode and customers become increasingly reliant upon a company""s continual Internet web presence, computer downtime may be measured in thousands, or millions, of dollars per hour. When disaster strikes, tools that enable the organization to recover its systems fast are critical.
While most organizations today use complex file backup and recovery software (such as IBM""s Tivoli Systems Manager (TSM)), such software is challenged by today""s business environment. Today""s backup software accepts user inputs regarding data sets to be backed up and manages media and retention issues so files and directories may be restored by the system administrator when needed. Today""s backup and recovery software replace unexpired files and directories into UNIX filesystems when needed. A challenge of today""s backup and recovery software for UNIX systems, however, is that files and directories can only be restored after all operating system-level data constructs have been manually replaced. Manual restoration of logical entity data is tedious, time consuming, and prone to error. The system administrator must often find and use documentation detailing the names, locations, and sizes of the logical entity data.
What is needed, therefore, is a method for automating bare-metal restoration processing steps needed to prepare a computer system for data file restoration.
It has been discovered that logical entity data can be automatically backed up using software designed to identify filesystems within the computer system and record data pertaining to the filesystem to backup storage. Backup data includes the filesystem name, size, mount points, logical volumes, and logical volume groups. After the logical entity data is backed up, the file data and directory information is backed up using conventional backup software. The logical entity backup process also records the logical volume group names, the disk identification data associated with the logical volumes, the Internet Protocol (IP) addresses that have been set for the computer system, gateway address information for accessing a gateway computer, and netmask information. The backup process backs the logical entity data to nonvolatile storage either in a removable media or to a computer network storage device that is connected to the computer system through a computer network.
When the computer system needs to be restored, the logical entity data is first restored to the computer system in order to establish the logical entities that existed on the computer system prior to the failure. After the logical entities are established, the file and directory data is recovered using the same commercial software used to backup such data.
The foregoing is a summary and thus contains, by necessity, simplifications, generalizations, and omissions of detail; consequently, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the summary is illustrative only and is not intended to be in any way limiting. Other aspects, inventive features, and advantages of the present invention, as defined solely by the claims, will become apparent in the non-limiting detailed description set forth below.